Ever since traveling to Israel and opening the Shabbat with my Jewish friends I have been fascinated with the theology, faith, religious practices, and culture of Judaism. I believe that Christians have lost much of our wonderful Jewish heritage. In some respects our Jesus is not the Jewish Jesus of Scriptures, but rather the Christian Jesus of tradition.On the campus of Southern my friends and I welcome in the Shabbat the traditional Jewish way - with a few modifications. We all bring some food and prepare a Shabbat feast, bless the Shabbat candles, recite Kiddish, a prayer over wine (we will mostly use grape juice) sanctifying Shabbat, recite the usual prayer for eating bread over two loaves of challah, and pray and wash our hands. We usually do this at least one hour before sunset to properly observe the tradition and to be on time for vespers. It is interesting to note that in Jewish literature, poetry and music, Shabbat is described as a bride or queen, as in the popular Shabbat hymn Lecha Dodi Likrat Kallah (come, my beloved, to meet the [Sabbath] bride). It is said "more than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept Israel."
Welcoming in the Shabbat in this manner helps to bring together our community, show our reverence towards God and His Commandments, gives us an opportunity to relax from our stress-filled lives as college students, and prepare us to worship and honour God with our whole being. This celebration of Shabbat by Adventists - in the tradition of the Jews - is not as uncommon as some think. I have had many of my friends share with me similar practices that their family or friends of the family have partaken.
Personally welcoming in the Shabbat in this way helps me to realize heaven in the present moment, not waiting for some distant reward or destination, but rather to live in the wonderful moment that God has given us. Shabbat Shalom. שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם
2 comments:
ok so i do not have a comment for this blog i have one for your survey about the 28 beliefs... and i know this is super controversal but this is something new that i have learned recently. I BELIVE THAT ADVENTIST SHLULD BE REQUIRED TO BELIEVE ON THE 28THINGYS! why? well believe it or not, religions are basically companies, and companies have rules and such, but also companies are made up of people who choose the rules, When someone becomes a seventh day adventist they agree to the so called "rules" of the church/company. if you dont believe it in it it does not mean you wont go to heave or something or that you cant believe what adventist believe in... it just means that you are not a seventh day adventist because you do not follow those rules and well there is nothing wrong with that. But if you want to change policy in out church u get to do it by going to those meeting in which things like these are thought of and you can try to change policy, if not well i dont think you should call yourself an adventist... no offfense to anyone or anything...
Le-havdil (to differentiate (to distinguish between the above and the below), A logical analysis (found in www.netzarim.co.il (Netzarim.co.il is the website of the only legitimate Netzarim-group)) of all extant source documents and archeology proves that the historical Ribi Yehosuha ha-Mashiakh (the Messiah) from Nazareth and his talmidim (apprentice-students), called the Netzarim, taught and lived Torah (kept the mitzwot (directives or military-style orders) in Torah (“the books of Moses”)) all of their lives; and that Netzarim and Christianity were always antithetical.
The original words of the pro-Torah teacher Ribi Yehoshua were redacted by Roman Hellenists, and the redaction is found in the “gospels”. Jzus is described in the “gospels”, and le-havdil the teachings of the historical Torah-teacher Ribi Yehoshua from Nazareth are found in the reconstruction (using a logical and scientific methodology to create the reconstruction), Netzarim Hebrew Reconstruction of Hebrew Matityahu (NHM).
The historical Jew Ribi Yehoshua is not the same as the Christian Jzus. The historical Ribi Yehoshua was a human. There is a Jewish Ribi Yehoshua. The Christian Jzus is a counterfeit image of the historical Torah-teacher Ribi Yehoshua.
The only way of how to follow Ribi Yehoshua is through becoming one of his Netzarim (www.netzarim.co.il)-followers
Anders Branderud
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